Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
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Editor's note: This is one in a continuing series of state-of-the-entity interviews with local officials. Amber Hamilton has been the Roosevelt County manager since 2014. Q: What are some of the main topics of discussion right now during County Commission meetings? A: The Commission is in the final stages of adopting a preliminary budget. So that's something the commission and county leadership, all the department heads, elected officials and such have been working on for the...
Maggie Mendoza has been directing the choirs at Portales High School for four years, and this year, the choir took home top honors among the state's 4A schools. Mendoza, however, has known she wanted to direct school choirs since she was in the sixth grade. Since graduating from Eastern New Mexico University in 2017, school choir conducting has been her career. The News spoke with Mendoza on Wednesday in Portales High School's chorus rehearsal room Here are our questions and h...
ALBUQUERQUE – Texico’s girls and Clovis Christian’s boys were both second heading into Tuesday’s final round of Class 1-3A state golf at Canyon Club at Four Hills, and understandably playing for second place. The Lady Wolverines were able to hang on to their standing while the Eagles were caught at the wire by Socorro. Texico, which entered the second round with a 29-shot lead over third-place St. Michael’s, pulled away from the Lady Horsemen with a 434 score to finish at 883, a 42-stroke margin. Socorro was in command a...
SAN ANGELO, Texas – Freshman left fielder Jonatan Clough and sophomore second baseman Demetrio Archuleta earned spots on the All-Lone Star Conference baseball team, announced on Wednesday prior to the start of the LSC’s four-team, double-elimination tournament. Clough, from the Dominican Republic, was chosen to the second team while Archuleta, from Farmington, claimed third-team honors. Batting cleanup, Clough proved to be one of the LSC’s top power hitters, leading the Greyhounds in triples (five) while finishing second in t...
ALBUQUERQUE – Clovis High senior R.J. Nora was hoping for a big Saturday in this weekend's Class 5A state track meet at the University of New Mexico track facility. Nora won his heats in the Class 5A boys 110 and 300 hurdles races on Friday, and went into Day 2 hoping to sweep those events. He also participated in triple jump on Saturday morning and helped get two Wildcats relays into Saturday's finals. The Cats earned three points on Friday – senior Jeremiah Johnson pla...
ALBUQUERUE – Melrose was set to get another crack at top-ranked, unbeaten District 6-1A rival Logan in Saturday’s Class 1A state baseball championship game in a rematch of last year’s title tilt. Buffaloes coach Jared Wilhoit said if they play like they did in Friday’s 14-5 semifinal victory over Magdalena at Spark Kindness Sports Complex, they’ll have a chance. “I think we played our best all-around game today,” Wilhoit said. “We’re looking forward to it. I think (facing a rival) helps us out because we have good confide...
A five-year capital plan for Eastern New Mexico University received approval from the ENMU Board of Regents Friday in preparation for presentation to the state Higher Education Department to seek funding for projects to be financed this year by general obligation (GO) bonds. The projects for which GO bonds will be requested include a new Agricultural and Art Annex building for $15 milllion and a Health Sciences building for $18 million, Tony Major, ENMU’s chief financial officer said, said. In addition, Major said, ENMU w...
Portales Meals on Wheels (MOW) recently teamed up with Roosevelt General Hospital (RGH) to provide more meals to the area residents needing food assistance. MOW volunteers now pick up the meals at the RGH Café, that started at the beginning of this month. According to a release from MOW, the organization "found it needed a new provider for the meals it supplies." Luckily, RGH was able to take on that challenge. "As part of our Dietary Department goals, the Meals on Wheels prog...
What was once the Income Support Division building in Portales will soon become the new City Hall. The location at 1028 Community Way will keep all staff under one roof instead of the offices and departments being spread among multiple buildings such as the Memorial Building, the Airport, and City Hall. "What we're trying to do is minimize how much we're paying out to buildings that we may not need," City Manager Sarah Austin said. The Income Support building, Austin...
Novelists Kathleen M. Rodgers, a Clovis native currently of Colleyville, Texas, and Teddy Jones of Friona, Texas, are scheduled to appear at a double author event from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Thursday at the Portales Public Library, 218 S. Ave. B. Rodgers’ work has appeared in Family Circle Magazine, Military Times, and several anthologies. Her fourth novel, “The Flying Cutterbacks”was named a 2022 New Mexico Press Women Zia Book Award first runner-up and a 2021 WILLA Liter...
Fireworks will, as of right now, be up for sale this summer in Portales. A fireworks sale ban did not go through City Council Tuesday evening, “because the state regulates that,” according to city manager Sarah Austin. “The only thing we could really do is stop the sale of aerial devices and ground audible devices, said Councilman Daniel Boan, who led the discussion. This is according to a New Mexico state statute that says a municipality or county shall not by ordinance regulate and prohibit the sale or use of any permissibl...
Was there ever an underpass under the tracks on south Prince Street where the bridge is now? And when was the bridge built? The Prince Street underpass was replaced by the current overpass in 1989. The overpass officially opened to traffic on Aug. 26 that year, according to the Clovis News-Journal. “Motorists excited about the opening were seen crossing the bridge and turning around to go over again throughout the day,” the newspaper reported. Construction began in August 1988. It cost a little over $5.1 million to com...
Sometime either late this year or early next year, the 64,000 square foot building that now houses Traci's Greenhouse at 2600 Mabry Drive, Clovis, is expected to become the new home of Zia Powersports, the motor sports business's owner Tanner Gearn said on Thursday. He said the building's area and its surrounding 3.5 acres will allow his business to more readily accommodate customers and his inventory of motorcycles, all-terrain vehicles and other back-country-recreation...
Ten years ago, I launched the Community News Exchange of New Mexico. Specifically, I wanted to help independent newspapers, mostly locally owned weeklies, by providing quality, relevant news and commentary as a supplement to their local content. Just weeks earlier, I was publisher of the Las Vegas Optic facing another corporate-ordered downsizing. I was being told to permanently shut down the newspaper’s press, lay off (more) workers and plan to (again) reduce the frequency of our publication, and I just couldn’t stomach tha...
I doubt there are many people over the age of 50 who grew up in this country and have not experienced some form of hazing, including the governor. I still remember sprinting home following the last day of class in elementary school to avoid the horrors of having lipstick smeared over my face, which had somehow become a tradition. Later, when I was in Boy Scouts, the initiation to join a group called Order of the Arrow was to spend the day being bossed around by older boys already in the group as we cleaned and made minor...
The nation’s mining of critically important battery metals has gotten a boost from an unexpected source. Bill McKibben, arguably the most influential environmental leader in the United States, has embraced mining and called for ramping up domestic production of lithium in batteries for renewables and electric cars. Writing in the magazine Mother Jones, McKibben, co-founder of the climate group 350.org and a professor at Middlebury College in Vermont, has spread the word on the need for climate action in an open-minded and p...
There is a common weapon of mass murder on our streets; nearly everyone has at least one sitting around. They’ve probably been used to kill more people in total than any other weapon. They are routinely left in yards, on the streets, and scattered around town; unattended and often unlocked. One was used to kill my older daughter. Knowing this, do I believe they should be banned or regulated? No, because I’m not an idiot. I’m talking about cars. The argument to ban guns or mo...
There are three things we know for sure about the Nord Stream disaster that occurred last September. The first is that it was an act of sabotage. This information was provided by the Swedes who investigated the event shortly after it happened. Second is the fact that when Sweden completed its investigation, it refused to published the findings on the grounds that these findings would impact national security. It was never made clear exactly whose national security would be...
A reader called last week, concerned about wind sculptures and metal art on Clovis’ Main Street. The gist of his concern is that the new downtown displays don’t really fit the “theme” of our community. This started me thinking. What exactly is the “theme” of our community? I suspect we don’t really have one, though we have plenty of choices. We were a “train town” during the first half of the last century. The railroad literally built Clovis from empty fields in the early 1900...
While the county extension service will be moving into a new building at the Curry County Fairgrounds by county fair time, the old fairgrounds 4-H extension building is slated to become “The High Plains Historical Museum.” Tuesday during their regular meeting, the Curry County Commission went over the numbers for the building project. While part of the project was set to be implemented, a $200,000 grant to refurbish the building, Commissioner Seth Martin made a motion that work on the building be put out to bid and once tha...
Water from the sky, rain, fell on the Clovis area Wednesday night bringing cool, wet relief. Showers with small pea-sized hail fell in the southern part of Clovis a little after 6 p.m. Wednesday. Heavier rain with lightning and thunder moved across the area from about 9 p.m. until 11 p.m. A total of .66 of an inch of rain fell at the National Weather Service’s (NWS) weather station at Clovis Regional Airport. The Cannon Air Force Base NWS station received one-one-hundredth of an inch of rain around 11:56 p.m. Wednesday. W...
Two local, soon-to-be college graduates were scheduled to participate in West Texas A&M University’s (WTAMU) Donning of the Stoles ceremony Friday. The pre-commencement ceremony honors students and their cultures. African American, Native American, Hispanic, and international students were scheduled to take part in the tradition. Out of ninety-one, Alexandria Sanchez is the only one to be native to Clovis. Sanchez, 23, said she spent a lot of her time growing up in Clovis because of her stepdad being a Clovis resident. She s...
Four individuals are set to be recognized at this year’s Hall of Honor luncheon for Clovis Municipal Schools (CMS). This year, all four recipients are Wildcat alumni. To be inducted into the Hall of Fame, an individual must be nominated for excelling greatly after their time at Clovis High School (CHS) or be a large supporter of CMS. The four categories for this year are Government and Science, Business and Industry, Sports and Entertainment, and the Top Cat Award. “The Hall of Honor is really for those who’ve gone above...
Many people enjoy watching exotic birds in nature documentaries on television. But residents in eastern New Mexico might try glancing out of their back door to witness something just as spectacular. Eastern New Mexico is under the Central Flyway, one of four flyways that span across the continental United States and parts of Canada, which help the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service manage migratory birds and their habitats, according to the USFWS website. Grant Beauprez, a...
Vernon Long died in a Japanese prison camp during World War II in 1942, records show. On Oct. 9, 1949, a sealed casket the military assigned to Long was buried in the Portales Cemetery. The Portales Daily News reported it was a "reburial" service. Long's family believed his remains were finally home. The local American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars provided full military honors. Now fast forward almost 75 years to a time when DNA testing allows the Department of Defense...
